


Proliferation Contretemps

by Citron0



Category: Lego Ninjago, The LEGO Ninjago Movie (2017)
Genre: Fluff and Angst, it's a father/son relationship don't worry
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-20
Updated: 2019-04-20
Packaged: 2020-01-20 17:39:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,761
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18529924
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Citron0/pseuds/Citron0
Summary: Used to be a part of a series of one-shots I was writing, but it became it's own thing. Long story short, this is an AU where Lloyd takes after his dad in some aspects. The story begins when Lloyd loses one too many teeth in his brawls with Lord Garmadon- and Garm puts two and two together.





	Proliferation Contretemps

**Author's Note:**

> ((I'll update the link later))  
> Posting it here because I already posted it on my astro-ore Tumblr.  
> It's formatted better on my Tumblr, but you can read it without all the little effects here.
> 
> ((I can't update this right away - I'm not supposed to be writing while under the influence of my pain meds (they're opioids, so I can't even attend school rn) - so sorry about that.))

The fights we, the ninja and my father, have can get a little bloody, but luckily I handle most of the hand-to-hand combat.  
  
“It’s seems like you’ve improved from our last fight, Green Ninja. Have you been practicing?” Garmadon and I circled another like two predators battling for a territory - not completely untrue.  
  
“Yeah, how’d you tell?” I kicked him in the gut. He retaliated with an uppercut to my jaw. Always the damn jaw.  
  
I had to resist saying, “Aw shit man, not again,” instead going with a reliable, “Ow!” Yet another tooth came flying out, the same one as last week.  
  
I glared, “Do you always have to go for the teeth?”  
  
He laughed, “I’m surprised you have any teeth left to lose, Green Ninja.” He paused to study the fallen denticle, “Didn’t you already lose this one?” He held it in his palm as if recognizing it as one of his own.  
  
I, tired and fatigued, admitted, “Yeah, what’s it to you?”  
  
“It’s an implant.” I added to remedy my fears of him maybe connecting the dots.  
  
“This would be some high quality dentistry work, if you were telling the truth.” The sweat formed from our battle pressed my blond hair on my face; I brushed it back under my mask.  
  
“Of course, I’m telling the truth; I’m a ninja.” I spat out some blood. He blinked at it as if seeing it for the first time.  
  
“Aren’t ninja supposed to deceive?” Lord Garmadon scoffed; kids these days: throwing around the word ‘ninja’ willy-nilly.  
  
“Awfully sangria for human blood, isn’t it?” I stared at him blankly.  
  
He clarified almost smug, “Your blood is mulberry-colored not red, Green Ninja – or should I say, ‘La-loyd?’”  
  
I paled, either from the blood loss or the shock, “I-I, what? What are you saying?”  
  
Before I knew it, he had me in a bear hug – or a regular hug? Pressing my arms against my sides, he pulled my mask off with his spare hands.  
  
“Hey! What are you doing?!” He held me so tightly, I wasn’t sure if he’d ever let go.  
  
“We’re done fighting, La-loyd.” He gazed at me with such relief in his eyes as lava-borne flames trickled down his cheeks. The anger and tension on my face had vanished in favor of confusion. I didn’t know what to do; Uncle never taught me about this type of situation, so I rested my head on top of the crook of one of his elbows.  
  
I looked up at him awkwardly, “Can you, um, put me down?”  
  
“No,” His tears landed on me; they didn’t sting like I thought they would, “Not yet.” He held me closer. I couldn’t find it within myself to struggle; I sort of wanted this too.  
  
He set me down soon enough, but didn’t let go. I tried to blink the tears out of my eyes, but that just caused one to escape. Its lime glow alerted Garmadon to it.  
  
“La-loyd?!” His grip dropped, I jumped backwards to regain some distance.  
  
“You’re hurt!” I frowned, and then continued searching for my mask, for it held my headset.  
  
“Yeah,” I retorted with a bitter tone, “You caused that, remember?” In the corner of my eye I saw it, while I completely ignored the hurt expression on his face.  
  
“And, it’s ‘Lloyd’, Dad, not ‘La-loyd.’” I rushed towards it; I had to contact the others.  
  
“No, L-L-O-Y-D; I should know, I named you.”  
  
He noticed me moving toward it, “Hey, stop moving while I’m talking to you, La-loyd.” I picked it up and whispered, “We’ve got a code: yellow.”  
  
On the other lines, they were still occupied with the Shark naval and land forces.  
  
Zane was the first to reply, “Oh no, a code yellow!”  
  
“Oh man, that sucks.” Cole stated bluntly.  
  
“Yeah, sorry, dude.” Nya’s response was muffled somewhat by the water spraying out from her mech.  
  
“A code yellow?! What’s a code yellow again?” Jay asked between breaths.  
  
“So your dad knows? Do we need to fetch you, bro?” Kai confirmed.  
  
“La-loyd! Stop contacting your little ninja friends, and listen to me when I’m talking to you.” The Secret Ninja Force heard Garmadon as he swiped the garb from me, his son.  
  
“Give that back, Dad!” I tried to take it back from him, but he was taller than my max jumping height. He grabbed me and I sunk my teeth in him before I could really run that plan by me.  
  
Despite that, he didn’t let go, which just made me feel more like a ‘Garmadon’ than I had all week, “Uh, sorry. I don’t know what came over me.” I mumbled looking away, unable to rub the back of my neck, I hadn’t bit anyone since I bit Chen in third grade. I wasn’t certain, but biting people didn’t sound very befitting of a ninja.  
  
“Those are good instincts, La-loyd; but your venom doesn’t work on me.” Had he just encouraged me to bite people?  
  
“Ve-venom?” That explained so much, and yet so little. Had that been the reason Chen was sent to the hospital when we were younger?  
  
“Is that why Chen hates me!?” I blurted. Whoops.  
  
Dad hummed as he adjusted his grip and started walking toward his mech, “I don’t know who this ‘Chen’ is, but if you bit him, probably. Our bite, albeit non-fatal, inflicts excruciating pain to its victims.”  
  
“Oh, I said that out loud. Um, I,” I didn’t tell anyone, not even Uncle Wu, about it; but I guessed that someone like Garmadon would probably understand more than he would, “bit him in third grade after he hit me for, uh, having fangs – they had just grown in. He was sent to the hospital afterwards; I thought I gave him rabies or something.” I chuckled a little.  
  
He joined me in my laughter, “Not rabies, but you did give him a neurotoxin.”  
  
“Aw, man,” I groaned, “No wonder he hates me.” He set me down in the spare seat of his upgraded Shark mech; was he suspecting this for awhile? The clicks of the locks on the seatbelts snapped me out of whatever trance or dopamine-induced civility I was just in.  
  
“Uh, where are we going?” I managed to ask when he turned the mechanical shark on.  
  
“I’m going to get your teeth and other wounds cleaned up and – I don’t know – have you spend the night at my place. I’ll call your mother in the morning when I decide on what to do next.”  
  
“You can’t be serious. I can’t ‘spend the night at your place.’ Mom’s gonna kill me!”  
  
“Well, I can’t send you home as you are now that I know who you are. Not in good conscience.”  
  
I squirmed, “You’re evil! And, not to mention, you ruined my life!”  
  
He pressed a button on his console and said rather calmly, “Retreat! We got what we came for! And someone spruce up the guest bedroom on my floor!”  
  
He turned back to me, “How could I ruined your life; I wasn’t even there?”  
  
I hissed in anger. Realizing my mistake, I covered my mouth in shame; Garmadon drew a monstrous side out of me that I tried so hard to push down. He chortled at my embarrassment.  
  
The sun had just set when we arrived at his volcano lair, I gulped when he parked in one of his docks. There was no retreating, so I followed him to a room in the medical wing where he dropped me off.  
  
“Dinner will be ready in an hour, La-loyd. I’ll show you to the dining room then.” He looked guiltily at the bruise forming on my jaw, “Let them treat you, it shouldn’t take too long.” He closed the door.  
  
“Okay.” I wasn’t in a position to really object.  
  
By ‘too long,’ I wasn’t expecting it to take well over 45 minutes.  
  
It started with a skittish medical assistant entering the room, taking my vitals, handing me a plastic cup to urinate in, and then telling me that the doctor will be in shortly.  
  
After that, the doctor arrives in a lab coat that was covered in dark red splotches. She had exam gloves on and her hair tied up in a bun like she was fresh out of surgery.  
  
“Well, hello there, La-loyd.” She greeted me like I was a small child and mispronounced my name like Garmadon – or was that actually how he intended for it to sound?  
  
“Hi.”  
  
“Today, will be taking some blood specimens as we do an overall check-up.” She discarded her gloves into the biohazard bin and pressed a button on the wall. She grabbed a popsicle stick and approached me.  
  
“Open wide, say: ‘Ah.’”  
  
“Ah.” She pressed it to my tongue and nodded.  
  
“Okay, I’m going to disinfect your wound.” She applied a black gel to the gap that was already filled with the beginnings of a new tooth. The gel was cool to the touch for a couple of seconds before it morphed into a burning sensation.  
  
Fiery tears fizzled as they formed and fell, “If it burns, it’s cleaning the area. She filled a paper cup with tap water and looked at it for a moment as if to be debating something in her mind, and then she flung its contents at my face. A loud sizzling sound erupted from my face as my molten tears hardened into some sort of green silicate. She plucked some off my cheeks with a pair of plyers and dropped the gem formations into the cup. She filled another cup with water and handed it to me.  
  
“Swish once the aseptic gel’s done.”  
  
“Can you flick your tongue for me?” I frowned but otherwise complied. I hadn’t done so in years, so the rush of smells that followed overwhelmed me for a second. The blood, the bleach, my sweat; I gagged.  
  
“Oh my, are you okay?” She threw the wood away into the same red bin as the gloves.  
  
I swallowed, “I’m fine. I just wasn’t expecting it to smell so bad.” I flinched when I heard her write something down on her clipboard.  
  
A male nurse entered with a vile and a few needles. She spoke low to the nurse, “Don’t blow any of his veins; in case you forgot, he’s the boss’s kid.”  
  
“Oh, and Mr. Garmadon? We noticed that you’re behind on your vaccines, so we’ll gladly give them to you – your father already consented.”  
  
“What? How would you know that? Do you have access to my medical records?”  
  
“We have our ways.” Hacking, no doubt.  
  
“Are, are you charging for this?”  
  
“Not at all; you’re Lord Garmadon’s son. Why would we charge you? Besides, I doubt you have any money to pay with anyway.” Not wrong; I didn’t even have my phone on me – it was still at Wu’s with the rest of my clothing and school stuff.  
  
I shrugged as the nurse drew a vile of reddish purple blood. He balked, “You really are the boss’s kid, aren’t you?” I pinched the bridge of my nose and looked up at the security cameras in the corners of the ceiling.  
  
“Ugh, don’t remind me.” He rolled up the rest of my sleeves to give me my flu shot and my Hepatitis A shot.  
  
After he placed the last band-aid and gave me an ice pack, Garmadon entered. Everyone, even the doctor, began to cower. My arms ached too much to move them into any battle stance. I tightened my grip on my icepack; it was starting to burn my hand.  
  
“We-we did everything you requested, Lord Garmadon.” She bowed, he seemed to ignore her in favor of me.  
  
Our eyes met briefly, “Even his vaccines?”  
  
“Yes, sir.”  
  
He stared at me, “Is this true, La-loyd?” Why was he going to take my word above his employees? We were battling not even an hour ago.  
  
I showed him my bandages. He grabbed the hand I wasn’t using to hold my icepack to my face.  
  
“Okay, La-loyd, let me show you where our dinner is.” After we left, there was a collective sigh that came from the room.  
  
After several minutes of silent walking, we stopped at the dinning room. There were only two plates set on the table, despite its length suggesting it could hold at least twenty.  
  
“Here we are, La-loyd! Take a seat right there.” The warlord pointed to a leather seat adjacent to the plate at the head of the table. I sat, but I didn’t bother masking my discomfort.  
  
Garmadon clicked the microphone on his clothing, “Bring the food out!”  
  
He cleared his throat indicating he was about to engage us in small talk, “So, La-loyd, how’s school treating you?”  
  
I moved my chair away from him slightly, “It’s cool.” I said dismissively.  
  
“What about your ninja friends? Do they treat you well?”  
  
“Why do you care? But, yeah, they’re all I’ve got.”  
  
The food came disrupting his window for a response. It was blue lobster with a butter glaze. It came with a side of popcorn shrimp and calamari fries.  
  
I bit my tongue once I had a fry in my hand hoping he wouldn’t notice.  
  
“Why are you doing that? Just eat your food; it’s not poisoned or anything.” He noticed.  
  
“Why am I doing what?” I ate a fry experimentally, “Is this squid?”  
  
I bit my tongue again; the food smelled fine.  
  
“Yes, but why are you biting your tongue like that? Are you trying to suppress your instincts?”  
  
I wanted to tell him, but he never had to hide what he was. “What instincts?” I lied poorly.  
  
I narrowed my eyes mumbling, “Well, that’s none of your business anyway, Garmadon.”  
  
“Son.” My eyes darted to him, pupils slits before dilating again.  
  
“You wouldn’t understand.” I ate one of the shrimp; not too shabby, could use some lime juice.  
  
“Or would I?”  
  
I glared, “No, you wouldn’t understand what it’s like for people to be constantly comparing you to someone you’re not.” I cut vigorously into the lobster’s shell. As bits broke off, it made loud crunching and crackling crashes. I winced.  
  
“For people to see you as nothing more than a monster.”  
  
“When people see me, all they ever see is you!” I clenched my fists. The floodgates were open, I couldn’t stop myself from venting.  
  
“To have to constantly push down what feels natural, just so you can go a single day without being picked on or people pointing at you and saying, ‘I bet he’s as evil as his dad,’ or ‘Why haven’t those ninja killed him yet?’ Or, ‘Ninjago would be better off without him around.‘” I rubbed the tears out of my eyes, the flames dancing on my hands was almost enough to distract me from the memories I was reliving.  
  
“No one was there to tell me that it was normal to react the way I had.”  
  
“La-loyd, I didn’t know.” He put a hand on my shoulder. I inched away some.  
  
“Of course you didn’t know, you said it yourself: 'you weren’t even there!’ You never bothered to know! I lived my whole life feeling like a freak. It sucks to despise your reflection and what you are!”  
  
I started eating a large portion of the lobster, shell and all. It was oddly calming to bite into something crunchy. Garmadon watched me with worry in his eyes.  
  
“I, you’re right.” He broke the silence.  
  
“That it sucks?”  
  
“Yes, that, but also that I should’ve been there for you when you were growing up.”  
  
He grimaced, “But I wasn’t. I’m sorry, La-loyd, but we’re together now.” He squeezed my arm, but it was still tender from the flu shot. Maybe the pain was making me more aggressive than I usually was; Oni blood was weird like that.  
  
“We’re not 'together now.’ Did you seriously think that I would move-in with you just because you captured me?”  
  
“I just thought I could make things right. We can finally make up for lost time. There’s so much I can teach you: how to tie a tie, ride a bike, and, if you’re feeling up to it, conquer a city!”  
  
I always wanted someone to be there and do those things with me - well, not the last one - since my mom wasn’t there either, but I never saw that person being Garmadon. It was clear that he was only trying to butter me up to helping him conquer Ninjago. Of course, what was I to expect from an evil warlord?

**Author's Note:**

> Slight change from canon, Garm and Lloyd are only part Oni, not part dragon. Wu, however, is part dragon.


End file.
